Читать книгу Beyond All Bearing - Susan Delaney Spear - Страница 9

I ran down Belmar Street to cross the highway

all by myself. This was a big girl mission.

I held the note you wrote up for the clerk.

Coins clattered. She read, she clicked her tongue,

dilly-dallied for a minute—stalled,

then handed me the shiny pack of Winstons.

My heart beat hard, my errand halfway done.

With pride I clutched the cellophane-wrapped prize

and backed out through the squeaky, wooden door.

Pebbles flew like sparks behind my Keds.

A Corvair screeched. Its bumper grazed my leg

and stopped. I eyed the driver through the glass.

She shook her head and laid it on the wheel.

Oh, no! Mommy’s cigarettes!

My heartbeat halted; my lungs forgot to breathe.

Palms together, Winstons in between,

I mouthed the words “I’m sorry, sorry, please. . . .”

I shuddered, then I ran. I never told you.

I did my lethal best to win your love.